Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild Guide PDF

Welcome to the Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild Guide v5.0! This document contains everything you need to know to survive battles with Sandpoint goblins (and the Runelord's henchmen) in Pathfinder Adventure Card Game. This guide is intended for use with the organized play program for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game's Season of Factions Favor.

By "Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild characters" do you mean Pathfinder Society Organized Play characters? I have never heard it or seen it any where called "Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild" before.

So I've read it over a few times. There are a few things that I think should probably be talked about in the Adventure Card Guild Special Rules section, mostly pertaining to adding cards to the box other than the Skull & Shackles Base Set, Skull & Shackles Character Add-On Deck, and Promo Cards:

-Is it okay to have the Character Add-On Deck from Rise of the Runelords included in the box? I actually considered buying one, having never bought the Runelords Base Set, to add to my Skull & Shackles set to have more character options and boons, but ultimately decided against it due to being worried about the China/USA printer issue. Others may have had a similar idea.

-What about even mixing the Rise of the Runelords Base Set, or select cards from it? Most people probably wouldn't do this, but it should probably still be mentioned. I'm guessing that all Rise of the Runelords cards should be kept far away from an Organized Play session. Is that the intent?

-How about if someone wants to get extra Class Decks for their box to increase/diversify their pool of boons? Is it okay to have the boons from Class Decks included in an Organized Play box? If so, should it be limited to a maximum of one deck of each class?

-And one last issue of actually taking cards out of the box; if the base set being used for organized play is someone's personal copy and there is a normal Skull & Shackles Adventure Path game being played with it, is it okay for the characters in that game to have their decks kept together (taking them out of the boons available in the box for Organized Play) or should the cards in the character decks be recorded and divided back into the box? I'm guessing option two, but again it should probably be explicitly stated.

You purge Basic and Elite cards from the main box, when the senario tells you to, but there is no mention of if you purge them from your class deck. Was that intentional that you could still get a basic card as a senario reward even when you get to senario pack 5 and 6?

-Is it okay to have the Character Add-On Deck from Rise of the Runelords included in the box?

-What about even mixing the Rise of the Runelords Base Set, or select cards from it?

-How about if someone wants to get extra Class Decks for their box to increase/diversify their pool of boons?

-if the base set being used for organized play is someone's personal copy and there is a normal Skull & Shackles Adventure Path game being played with it, is it okay for the characters in that game to have their decks kept together

I'd guess no to all of these. At least for OP, and especially reporting/recording your character. When playing on your own, you can do whatever you want

You purge Basic and Elite cards from the main box, when the senario tells you to, but there is no mention of if you purge them from your class deck. Was that intentional that you could still get a basic card as a senario reward even when you get to senario pack 5 and 6?

Just like how you would still be able to get basic cards that late in a regular game, its just less likely.

You purge Basic and Elite cards from the main box, when the senario tells you to, but there is no mention of if you purge them from your class deck. Was that intentional that you could still get a basic card as a senario reward even when you get to senario pack 5 and 6?

Just like how you would still be able to get basic cards that late in a regular game, its just less likely.

They can also just make the reward say "Each character draws a random non-basic, non-elite boon from their class deck." That would solve the basic/elite problem for class decks.

That isn't the way I read it. It says you cannot use them when building/rebuilding your deck, but I do not see where it says they can not be used to upgrade your already built deck.

You could be, and probably are, right, but I am saying the way it is worded leaves it up to interpretation.

To close that loop hole the words "or upgrading" should be added after "when building" in the promo cards section.

I would like to be able to use promo cards in my deck, I get that I would have to earn them and would be fine with that. Either by swapping out a boon like normal boons for the class deck, or being restricted to only getting a promo card for my class deck if the group actually looted it during a session.

Example: the miniatures they are producing will have promo cards specific to my wizard, I want that promo card because, well, I love promo cards. I want the miniature for the orgranized play and will buy it for the organized play. I would also like a way to use the promo card that is specifically for a wizard that comes with that set in my class deck too. But the game organizers are not required to buy the miniatures so it is very unlikely to see those specific boons in the game box.

Editted: An example of allowing this could be having the game organizer, official, sign off on a chronicle sheet in which a player earned a promo card, which would make that promo card legal for play in their class deck?

They say that you can get chronicle boons for the Pathfinder Society RPG play from these rounds. How does this work with home play scenarios? Can you only get these boons at organized events? What if there are no events available in your area? Do you miss out on these boons?

Page 9 wrote:

Pathfinder Society Roleplaying
Guild Rewards
Some Adventure Card Guild scenarios grant rewards that
can be assigned to Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild
characters. These rewards will be listed on the Chronicle
sheet, and you should record the Pathfinder Society Number
of the RPG character that will be receiving the reward.

That isn't the way I read it. It says you cannot use them when building/rebuilding your deck, but I do not see where it says they can not be used to upgrade your already built deck.

You could be, and probably are, right, but I am saying the way it is worded leaves it up to interpretation.

To close that loop hole the words "or upgrading" should be added after "when building" in the promo cards section.

I would like to be able to use promo cards in my deck, I get that I would have to earn them and would be fine with that. Either by swapping out a boon like normal boons for the class deck, or being restricted to only getting a promo card for my class deck if the group actually looted it during a session.

Example: the miniatures they are producing will have promo cards specific to my wizard, I want that promo card because, well, I love promo cards. I want the miniature for the orgranized play and will buy it for the organized play. I would also like a way to use the promo card that is specifically for a wizard that comes with that set in my class deck too. But the game organizers are not required to buy the miniatures so it is very unlikely to see those specific boons in the game box.

Editted: An example of allowing this could be having the game organizer, official, sign off on a chronicle sheet in which a player earned a promo card, which would make that promo card legal for play in their class deck?

Right, so you can't start with them. And then the rules say that when you rebuild your deck at the end of the scenario you do so only with cards from the class deck.

In Adventure Card Guild play, you don’t get to keep the cards that you’ve acquired or otherwise gained during the scenario. Instead, you use them to determine which cards you get to take from your own Class Deck box.

So any promo card you've acquired or gained during the scenario couldn't be kept. Instead, it would be a a card you'd use to determine which cards you get to keep from your class deck. And the promo card isn't part of your class deck.

Hopefully the cards in the class deck will be so awesome this won't be an issue anyway.

I agree with everything you said there, except in the promo cards section on page 6 doesn't differentiate which 'box' and it should be a loop hole tied up.

I do think you are right, in how I am reading it now, but the fact that it isn't how I read it when I read it the first time means I am not the only person that could be confused by the wording in the promo cards.

Can characters get more than one card? For small groups it isn't hard to get a big stack of new cards.

If one player takes an Ally 3, giving up an Ally 2, is that ally available for other players to take? This is normal in regular PACG, particularly for items and spells that can be used by multiple players.

For Obey the Process, why are things card specific? I might just want 'ally of level 2+'; only card types and levels matter since the actual cards come from our decks. Also, if everyone were to want the same item then you wouldn't necessarily want to put it first on your list. Say that there are 6 players and the found cards are Item 4, Item 3, and Item B x4. The obvious thing to do is write 'I4, I3, IB1 ... IB4' on all lists, giving each player a 1/6 chance if I4. But if one player writes 'I3, I4, IB1 ... IB4' then the chances of getting the item are 4/5*1/2 = 2/5. Overall, you have a 3/5 chance of getting a good item instead of 1/3 chance.

I'll put some thought into a better Obey the Process, although any scheme will run into the same problems as voting for more than two candidates.

Once banished boons would leave the game, can you banish cards from the character deck box?

So I've read it over a few times. There are a few things that I think should probably be talked about in the Adventure Card Guild Special Rules section, mostly pertaining to adding cards to the box other than the Skull & Shackles Base Set, Skull & Shackles Character Add-On Deck, and Promo Cards:

-Is it okay to have the Character Add-On Deck from Rise of the Runelords included in the box? I actually considered buying one, having never bought the Runelords Base Set, to add to my Skull & Shackles set to have more character options and boons, but ultimately decided against it due to being worried about the China/USA printer issue. Others may have had a similar idea.

-What about even mixing the Rise of the Runelords Base Set, or select cards from it? Most people probably wouldn't do this, but it should probably still be mentioned. I'm guessing that all Rise of the Runelords cards should be kept far away from an Organized Play session. Is that the intent?

-How about if someone wants to get extra Class Decks for their box to increase/diversify their pool of boons? Is it okay to have the boons from Class Decks included in an Organized Play box? If so, should it be limited to a maximum of one deck of each class?

-And one last issue of actually taking cards out of the box; if the base set being used for organized play is someone's personal copy and there is a normal Skull & Shackles Adventure Path game being played with it, is it okay for the characters in that game to have their decks kept together (taking them out of the boons available in the box for Organized Play) or should the cards in the character decks be recorded and divided back into the box? I'm guessing option two, but again it should probably be explicitly stated.

The OP adventures will tell you which cards should be in the box for each adventure (and for Season of the Shackles, it's only Skull & Shackles cards). In addition, the Guide tells you you can add up to 12 promo cards (and we don't care what set those come from).

Regarding your last point, we expect all of the cards to be present, so yeah, option 2.

You purge Basic and Elite cards from the main box, when the senario tells you to, but there is no mention of if you purge them from your class deck. Was that intentional that you could still get a basic card as a senario reward even when you get to senario pack 5 and 6?

You don't purge them from your class deck, but we have the ability to reward you with non-Basic or non-Basic, Non-Elite cards if we want to.

Promo cards can be added when you have them. If I were to replay RotR today, I'd put all the promo cards in from the beginning.

The S&S rulebook now specifies how to deal with promo cards:

S&S Rulebook wrote:

If you have a character promo card, you can use it right away, but you shouldn’t add other promo cards to the game until you begin the first chapter of the Adventure Path. If you have a ship promo card, as soon as you have checked off any ships of the same class on your fleet card, you may treat the promo card as if it has been checked off as well...

That's for standard play.

The Guide overrides the first sentence for Org Play, kind of, by telling you you can put them in the box right away, but since Org Play begins with the first chapter of its adventure path, the result is the same. (The individual Season of the Shackles scenarios tell you which classes of ships you can use for each scenario.)

And yeah, as confirmed in the other thread, while you can acquire promo cards during play and use them for the duration of a scenario, they can never stay in your character deck between scenarios.

Can characters get more than one card? For small groups it isn't hard to get a big stack of new cards.

If one player takes an Ally 3, giving up an Ally 2, is that ally available for other players to take? This is normal in regular PACG, particularly for items and spells that can be used by multiple players.

For Obey the Process, why are things card specific? I might just want 'ally of level 2+'; only card types and levels matter since the actual cards come from our decks. Also, if everyone were to want the same item then you wouldn't necessarily want to put it first on your list. Say that there are 6 players and the found cards are Item 4, Item 3, and Item B x4. The obvious thing to do is write 'I4, I3, IB1 ... IB4' on all lists, giving each player a 1/6 chance if I4. But if one player writes 'I3, I4, IB1 ... IB4' then the chances of getting the item are 4/5*1/2 = 2/5. Overall, you have a 3/5 chance of getting a good item instead of 1/3 chance.

I'll put some thought into a better Obey the Process, although any scheme will run into the same problems as voting for more than two candidates.

Once banished boons would leave the game, can you banish cards from the character deck box?

One card upgrade per scenario (which may be in addition to other card rewards in some scenarios). See the other thread for an explanation.

Sorry I can't address your other questions here—I've got to run, but you'll find some of the answers you seek in the other thread.

First, thanks for putting this together, I am looking forward to playing more scenarios :)

Some comments mainly about the acquisition of new cards at the end of a scenario:

1) In regular play, the person who acquired the cards, i.e. currently buried under his character, in his discard pile, or in his deck gets 1st pick of those cards. Any he doesn't select, go to the center of the table for anyone else to acquire. This helps prevent stuff like the Wizard taking the best weapon that the Fighter acquired, or the Rogue taking the Spell that the Wizard acquired, etc.

2) The whole "Follow the Process" just seems way to wordy and time consuming. Why not something as simple as: "Players roll D12s to determine who gets first pick of a new card. Highest roll picks first. Resolve any ties. Each player in order then picks a new card." Having one simple process would speed things up. No need to write down a list, etc.

Comments about it being a cooperative game, and not being selfish are great. But in the end, a simple resolution when agreement cannot be reached is good. And if a player wants to be selfish all the time, then he'll simply end up playing solo as nobody will want to play with him.

Please head to this thread for discussion of the actual contents of the Guide, including commentary on the process. (Short version: This is the method we're using for Season 0. Try it out and tell us about it in that thread.)

Yoshua, in the second edition of the guide, there is a rule that says that you can use the iconic heros cards as if they were in your class deck as long as they have the Owner trait for one of the characters in the deck.

This is probably the wrong place to ask this (I’m new here), but having picked up Skull & Shackles during the latest sale, I was wondering if there are plans for a “Season of the Goblins 2” using the Skull & Shackles base set? I was excited to play SotG, but realized you needed RotR for that. RotR is tricky to come by these days.

First, welcome. Not sure if you are new to Paizo or new to the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, but either way, welcome.

This would probably be a better place to ask. I haven't seen any indication that such a thing would be in the works. I think it would be a great idea though. I just played Season of the Goblins during the Play By Forum Outpost Event. After we finished the season we decided to dive head first into Adventure 3 of Season of the Righteous.

Thanks, Hawkmoon. New to posting at Paizo. Since I saw all the Society PDFs at the top of this page I thought I was in the right spot, but I’ll try the link you provided. On an unrelated note, thanks for all the great posts and advice you give here and on BGG. It really helps!